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46th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - 1.1

Belgium, March 29, 2003

Steven de Jongh fastest in three man sprint

Dutch rider Steven de Jongh (Rabobank) has won the 46th E3 Prijs Harelbeke.
After 209 km of racing, with no less than 11 climbs in his legs, he won easily
from Steffen Wesemann (Telekom) and Stijn Devolder (Vlaanderen-T Interim) in
a sprint. The three had attacked with 27 km to go, and profited from the lack
of cooperation in the peloton behind them, which seemed content to watch each
other rather than chase the break.

"I was on the road with two guys less quick than myself," said a delighted
De Jongh at the finish in Harelbeke. "I could sit back and wait, because I simply
knew I was the fastest. I was full of confidence. Wesemann is not really slow
but I am faster than him. In a time trial he might be quicker, but he'll never
beat me in a sprint."

That was never really in doubt, with Wesemann seemingly content to ensure
the break stayed away until the finish, doing massive turns and showing that
he's a man for the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix.

Third placed Stijn Devolder, a young Vlaanderen-T-Interim rider, was very
happy with his result. "De Jongh and Wesemann are both fast and I was tired.
I am very happy finishing third and about the way I had a decisive role in the
finale," he said.

How it unfolded

Underneath a cloudy sky and with only a hint of rain, the race began quickly
and nervously. With a field of riders getting ready for the upcoming classics,
it promised to be an animated race and the crowd's expectations in Harelbeke
ran high. At the feed zone (km 103) the peloton had an average speed of 45 km/h,
and the pace never slowed after that. The race was marked by continuous attacks.

With over 80km to go, a very impressive Australian Champion Stuart O'Grady
(Crédit Agricole) together with the winner of last week's race in Nokere, Matthé
Pronk (Bankgiroloterij), launched the first of a series of unsuccessful attacks.
They were allowed to get a lead of two minutes, but on the hilly parcours, a
dominant Quick.Step-Davitamon team took the initiative to try and catch the
two leaders. Raising the tempo even more, they quickly thinned out the field
of participants.

A peloton of 40 riders formed out of which Fabio Baldato (Alessio) and Philippe
Gaumont (Cofidis) succeeded in sneaking away to close the gap to O'Grady and
Pronk. But soon the leading group consisted of twenty riders, with quite a few
big names among them: Museeuw, Vandenbroucke, Boonen (Quick Step), Van Petegem
(Lotto-Domo), Vainsteins (Caldirola-Sidermec), Wesemann (Telekom), Boogerd (Rabobank)
and last year's winner Dario Pieri (Saeco).

After the climb of Kluisbergen with 27 km to go, Steffen Wesemann attacked.
He was accompanied by Stijn Devolder (Vlaanderen-T-Interim) and Steven de Jongh
(Rabobank), and there was no immediate reaction from the peloton. The gap quickly
grew to 25 seconds, and stayed there.

In what was left of the peloton, Johan Museeuw tested his knee for a second
time in the race, and he started the chase on the cobbles in Kaster. Dario Pieri
was the only one who could follow his wheel, and they quickly established a
small gap, but the peloton went looking for them almost immediately.

Museeuw's attack did manage to tear the peloton into several groups, and a
lot of riders suffered badly on the steep climbs. A remarkable performance was
the one by Jaan Kirsipuu. He showed his strength in Dwars door Vlaanderen last
Wednesday and again gave proof his exceptional form at the front, after having
survived the hilly part of the race. However he too was unable to get away from
the bunch.

With 10 km to go the gap had come down from 45 seconds to 30, as Wim Vansevenant
and Aart Vierhouten (Lotto-Domo) and Gianluca Bortolami (Caldirola-Sidermec)
tried to stimulate the chase, but there was no help from the rest of the peloton
to catch the leaders. With fast man Steven De Jongh in the front, his Rabobank
team did a great job in keeping the group in check, and the gap simply didn't
come down quick enough.

With 4 km to go, it was clear that the three leaders would stay away, despite
an attempt by Raivis Belohvosciks (Marlux), Frederic Guesdon (FDJ) and Enrico
Cassani (Alessio) to catch them. These three managed to stay clear and fight
it out for fourth, but the race was in front between Wesemann, De Jongh and
Devolder. In the sprint, De Jongh led out and easily passed Wesemann, who was
forced to settle for second in front of a weary Devolder. Belohvosciks took
the sprint for fourth, while Kirsipuu won the bunch sprint for 7th.

Today's E3 Prijs was a far more balanced affair than the Quick.Step dominated
Omloop Het Volk at the beginning of this month, and it may well be that Quick.Step
won't have things all their own way when it comes to the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
But if Museeuw is back to full fitness by then, he could make a difference.
Today he accelerated in the saddle, and was still able to create gaps. Tomorrow
he will ride again in the Brabantse Pijl, hoping to get some more race kilometres
in before next week.